September 5th

 

Musical birthdays today include Al Stewart (76), Loudon Wainwright III (75), King Crimson saxophone and winds player Mel Collins (74), ex-Humble Pie guitarist Clem Clempson (72), Racer X bassist Juan Alderete (58),Rage against the Machine drummer Brad Wilk (53), Dweezil Zappa (52), and Twiztid rapper Jamie Spaniolo (46). 

Shoutout to the Great Beyond for composer John Cage, born on this date in 1912... for former songwriter and Kingston Trio member John Stewart, who would have been 81 today... for Freddie Mercury and drummer Buddy Miles, both of whom would have been 75... for bluesman Josh White, who died on this date in 1969... and for Nashville guitarist [and session player on Bob Dylan's Blonde on Blonde] Joe South, who left us today in 2012.

Also on September 5: Verdi's first comic opera, Un giorno di regno [King for a Day] premieres at La Scala in Milan. The work is so poorly received that it will not be performed at the venue again until 2001 (1840)... Elvis Presley surprises his mother with the gift of a pink Cadillac. The car remained in the family and is on display at Graceland today (1956)... The Animals begin a 3 week run at № 1 the Billboard Top 40 with House of the Rising Sun. When the single was initially released, the record company printed the playing time on the label as 3 minutes rather than the actual 4 for fear that radio stations would be reluctant to play such a lengthy song (1964)... The Rolling Stones record 'Get Offa My Cloud' at RCA Studios in Los Angeles (1965)... In Almeria Province, Spain, John Lennon begins filming his role as Private Gripweed in the Richard Lester black comedy How I Won the War (1966)... At Abbey Road Studios, the Beatles begin work on I Am the Walrus, recording 16 takes of the basic backing track (1967)... In one of her final studio sessions, Janis Joplin records the version of Kris Kristofferson's 'Me and Bobby McGee' that will become a № 1 hit after her death (1970)... On their first ever visit to the UK, The Doors perform 'Hello I Love You' on Top of the Pops (1968)... Lynyrd Skynyrd guitarist Gary Rossington is seriously injured in a car crash in Florida (1976)... Soft Cell hit № 1 on the UK singles charts with 'Tainted Love'. The song was originally a hit for Gloria Jones in 1964. Jones, who became Marc Bolan's girlfriend in the 1970s, was the driver of the car that crashed and killed the T-Rex singer on the 15th of September, 1977. Jones survived the accident (1981)... ABC-TV announces that American Bandstand, on the air since 1957, has been cancelled (1987)... Aerosmith score the first US № 1 single of their 28-year career with 'I Don't Want to Miss a Thing' from the soundtrack of the film Armageddon... In Britain, the top single is Manic Street Preachers' 'If You Tolerate This, Your Children Will Be Next'. They are the first Welsh act to go to № 1 on the British charts since Shakin' Stevens in 1985. The song is in the Guinness Book of World Records as the longest title for a № 1 hit without parentheses (1998)... Arctic Monkeys win this year's UK Mercury Prize for their album 'Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not.' The Sheffield-based band's album sets a new record for fastest-selling debut in chart history after shifting more than 360,000 copies in its first week of release in February (2006)... A study of more than 36,000 people from around the world concludes that musical tastes and personality type are closely related. The research, which was carried out by Professor Adrian North of Heriot Watt University, Edinburgh, suggests classical music fans are shy, while heavy metal fans are gentle and at ease with themselves. Fans of Indie music have low self-esteem and are not hard working, fans of rap and hip-hop have high self-esteem and are outgoing. Country & Western fans are hardworking and outgoing, Reggae fans are creative but not hardworking, and fans of chart pop have high self-esteem, are not creative, but are hardworking and outgoing.